It is well known that in many and various surgical procedures, synthetic devices, that is, devices made from foreign materials, are very often used. Examples of such procedures are in surgery wherein tantalum or stainless steel or other metal clips are used to control bleeding by ligating various blood vessels or other tubular organs during surgical procedures. Furthermore, in other surgical procedures, various other metal rods, staples, clips or sheet material are used either to close off fascia or as supports or for other reasons in the surgical procedure. In most instances, these devices remain in the patient for considerable periods of time, though in some instances they may be removed at some later date or even rejected by the natural physiological function of the human body. For the most part, even though these metal surgical devices may cause no harm from the medical viewpoint, it is desired that they not remain in the body as they disrupt postoperative X-ray procedures and the subsequent diagnosis of the patient at times. The metal materials will disrupt X-ray imaging, computerized axial tomography imaging, and other of the new types of diagnostic imaging procedures. Hence, it is desirous that the surgical devices be replaced by non-metallic, biocompatible materials which do not have disruptive effects on the new diagnostic imaging procedures. It is even more desirable in many instances to make the surgical devices from absorbable polymers which will, at an appropriate time, be absorbed by the human body and present no problems whatsoever in future diagnostic imaging procedures. Devices made from absorbable polymers also prevent any long term complication which might arise from having a foreign body present in the tissue.
However, in trying to develop the absorbable polymers to replace the metal materials, it has been found very difficult to obtain an acceptable combination of strength, flexibility and functional integrity in the absorbable polymers. This is especially true in the smaller devices such as ligating clips and other types of clips to either close off vessels or connect material such as tissue. The fine sizes and the small critical areas present in such devices require considerable strength, flexibility and functional integrity. Also the absorbable polymers lack the tactile and audible properties desired in many surgical devices.
One type of absorbable polymer which would be extremely suitable for use in making surgical devices are the polymers of p-dioxanone. These are the polymers that are more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,988 issued Oct. 11, 1977, which is incorporated herein by reference. Surgical devices made from the polymers described in the above-mentioned patent would be especially suitable for these surgical devices provided one could make the device from the polymer so that the device had all of the desirable in vivo properties of strength, flexibility, and functional integrity.